Notes:

This Thomas was of North Petherton Parish, Somerset when he wrote his will on July 20, 1626. It was proved at Taunton, England on Aug. 8, 1628. He named his wife, Jane, and daughters, Mary (named after his mother), Joane, and Elizabeth. His daughters were all under the age of 18. His brother (in-law) who was his sister Mary Coate's husband, John Woodborne and his cousin, Simon Reepe were named the overseers in his will of North Petherton, Diocese of Bath and Wells. Simon Reepe would have had the same grandfather as Thomas possibly helping us take the Coate line back further one generation if studied. He was buried at North Petheron, co. Somerset, England.*Calendar of wills and administrations in the court of the archdeacon of Taunton : (parts I and II, wills only) 1537-1799 All current references to early Coate's named Thomas lived in North Petherton Parish, Somerset, England.

Thomas married Jane about 1615 in Hambridge, Somersetshire, ENG. Jane was born about 1595; died after 1628; was buried on 18 Jul 1780 in North Barrow, Somerset, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She is listed as Mrs. Jane Coate of North Barrow when she is buried on 18 Jul 1780.

Notes:

The oldest Coate in Somerset, England according to I.G.I. records is a Robert Cotes, b. abt 1140 in Fairbanks, Somerset, England. His daughter Margaret, was supposedly born in Cotes, Eccelshall, Staffordshire, England suggesting he might have come from Eccelshall. Staffordshire is the county where the oldest Cotes are known to have originated. If these trees are correct, then it's entirely possible that our Marmaduke goes back from Cotes of early Staffordshire, England in the Eccelshell branch. YDNA evidence supports his ancient lines going back to Staffordshire.: The best theory we have for our Coate line is that it descends through this Robert, b 1140. Fairbanks was in Somerset or Shropshire depending upon time frame and is 130 miles from the oldest known Coate's who lived in Bridgwater, Somerset, England.

Early Coates would have been more likely to travel south from Fairbanks to the Bristol Channel and go to Bridgewater by ship. Then the land travel would have been more like 80 miles of distance.: Marmaduke's name in his marriage to Marie was spelled Cote. He married Marie Somner on Nov. 6, 1575 in Weston Zoyland, 3 miles from where he lived in Curry Rivel. They supposedly raised their children in Curry Rivel. (See further explanation below.): Marmaduke's will was written on Mar 4 1617 when he is listed "of Curry Revel". This 1617 date is the oldest date I've seen for the Coate name appearing in Curry Rivel, suggesting the family could have come from another Parish before that time period. It named his wife, Mary, and sons, William (a legacy), Thomas, (a legacy) and Henry (pasture in Bindiche "together with common of Estones in the same Bindiche to have and to hold the said Henry Coate for and during the residue of the terms of four score years..." and daughters, Rachel and Mary and two grandchildren through his son William named John and Joane. (C-253c)

This Marmaduke's wife's name has been listed as Mary/Marie Skinner by theory since Marie named kin Alice Skinner in her will. Other than that, there is no evidence of same. Skinner would have likely been Alice's married name.: I've finally found his marriage record. It was extremely difficult to decifer in an odd old English script. In an index of Somerset marriage records, his wife is listed as Maxine Flinner in 1575 in Weston Zoyland. Weston Zoyland was 3 miles from Curry Rivel, England. I had been studying all original documents on Coates in Somerset for 4 months when I found this marriage for Marmaduke Cote and Maxine Flinner and could immediately see the first name was mistranscribed. Her first name was Marie. Upon a serious study of her surname, I discovered it was Smner in the efficient manner the clerk had. There are multiple Somners in the area that marry in Weston Zoyland. Please study the following important records.: (See ex: [https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/60856/42886_1831109331_1079-00031/3274786?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family- tree/person/tree/156863795/person/112065703116/facts/citation/522095021473/edit/record] for the original marriage record. Then study the uncommon letter styles the recorder used at the following site to discern the name of Marmaduke's wife: https://fh.familysearch.org/system/files/team/AIT/fsinformation/Resource_Guide/en/Old_English.pdf. The small r in Marie that the recorder used looks like an x. Small e's look a bit like a small o. The S he used at the beginning of several persons of the same surname as Marie used the Capital S that is the 23rd choice out of 26 choices on page 5 of the website linked above. It looks like a printed Fl to the untrained eye. Then to make it that much harder, the clerk of courts left out letters or abbreviated names in the interest of efficiency and spelled her last name Smner. His version of William on the pages looks like Wittm. He even used 2 different capital S's in his work to further complicate matters too. I had spent the entire summer deciphering old English script to sort all of the Coats in Somerset, England. Her name is definitely Marie Somner and certainly is difficult to translate correctly. It's why it took so long to find! There were 2 other siblings or cousins who married within a couple years of her. One was Francis Somner/Smner to Joan Bragge in 1575 and the other was William (?h)inge and Margaret Somner/Smner in 1577 all in Weston Zoyland.

The original name Coate first appeared in the highlands of Scotland between 800 and 1000 A.D. as Coutts, Coats, and Coates. They were a sept or sub-clan of the Farguharson Clan which branched from the clan Shaw in Scotland. (C-2021). To see where these clans lived, there is a site on the Internet that has an appropriate map at ysiwyg://102/htt;://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/3145/scotmap.h tml. This clan was one of the most faithful supporters of the "House of Stewart". (C-2247 b, c):

The first person of this name that has been found in England was in 1167, when Thomas de Cotes was knighted. He held land in the hamlet of Cotes in Staffordshire. The Coat of Arms of a Cock with the motto "Watchful and Bold" was adopted later by this family. (C-614L): The surname has been stated to have one of two meanings. 1) Cot or Cote meaning hut as in cottage or coat as in garment. 2) Coed/coid meaning wood. Until the 17th century, the name was usually spelled Cotes in England. (C-2158): It's important to note, that English records before 1642 are rare for baptismal, marriage and burial making it a bit difficult to trace previous to this date. Some will records existed before 1642 and many of all of these records were in Latin. Marmaduke's name appears to have been Marmaduci in some Curry Rival records because of this.: Even though this ancestral couple is so far back from us, there are tentative indications where DNA is suggesting we have our line traced correctly through the best current technique which is triangulation. They are as follows:: Marmaduke Coate bef 1552 & Mary Tentative: Chromosome 12: 20465327-21761436 2.2 cM's, Gedmatch #'s Z397630, M134445, A631906 : Marmaduke Coate bef 1552 & Mary Tentative: Chromosome 12: 21064601-21865495 gedcom's 595579, 299684 Gedmatch #'s Z397630, T455875, M134445: Marmaduke Coate 1552 & Mary Tentative: Chromosome 20: 18944125-19594148 8C/Niece gedcom's: 595579, 299684, 194406, Gedmatch #'s: Z397630, T455875, M134445: Even better, we have the best proof that you can get via an Australian cousin's YDNA which shows us that we are absolutely both descended from Henry Coate "The Elder", Marmaduke and Marie's son. That is the Most Recent Common Ancestor for them and many persons in our YDNA group at FTDNA including me.


Here are the Coate's of Curry Rivel records as they are currently published in 2016 thanks to familysearch.com.: Alise COAT Burial 2 OCT 1657 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Suzan COAT Burial 6 MAR 1664/5 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Alice? COAT Burial 30 OCT 1679 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: John COAT Burial 6 JAN 1692/3 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Joane COAT- Baptism:06 Sep 1696 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Rebecca COAT Burial 26 JUL 1696 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: William COAT- Baptism:23 Apr 1699 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Mary COAT- Baptism:23 Apr 1699 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: William COAT Burial 2 MAY 1699 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Marmaduke COAT- Baptism:25 Mar 1700 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Aubrey COAT- Baptism:13 Jun 1700 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Marmaduke COAT Burial 30 JUL 1700 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Mary COAT- Baptism:16 Sep 1701 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Jeffrey COAT- Baptism:18 Oct 1701 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: William COAT- Baptism:20 Aug 1702 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Anne COAT- Baptism:02 Sep 1703 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Isaac COAT- Baptism:09 Jan 1703/4 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Jacob COAT: Baptism 09 Jan 1703/4 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Marmaduke COAT- Baptism:26 Oct 1704 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Isaac COAT Burial 21 MAY 1704 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Marmaduke COAT- Baptism:23 Aug 1705 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: * COAT- Baptism:17 Nov 1705 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Marmaduke COAT Burial 20 APR 1705 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Sarah COAT Burial 29 APR 1705 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Mary COAT: Thomas COOK Marriage 20 Feb 1706 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Mary COAT- Baptism:06 Mar 1705/6 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Moses COAT- Baptism:31 Aug 1707 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Moses COAT Burial 20 FEB 1707/8 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Ambrose? COAT Burial 30 MAY 1708 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Elizabeth WEBB: Jacob COAT Marriage 01 Mar 1739 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: John COAT- Baptism:07 Sep 1740 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Elizabeth COAT Burial 6 Sep 1741 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Elizabeth TAYLOR: Aaron COAT Marriage 05 Nov 1742 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register] Detail: Elizabeth COAT: Thomas SEAGAR Marriage 25 Mar 1753 Somerset Curry Rivel (St Andrew) [Parish Register].


Birth:
Event Description:

Marmaduke married Marie SOMNER on 6 Nov 1575 in Weston Zoyland, Somerset, England. Marie (daughter of Richard? SOMNER) was born about 1562 in Maperton, Somerset, England; died in 1631 in Curry Rivel, Somerset, England; was buried in Currie Rivell, Somerset, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

I finally found the marriage record for this Marmaduke and Marie. In the index, her name is listed as Maxine Flinner, but when you enlarge the original book it's in, it looks like Marie Smner. This clerk left out vowels when not needed phonetically. In this case the S is represented by 2 small f looking letters. It's possible that it is how the clerk wrote Skinner, which is the same name in the soundex search on freereg.org.uk as Somner but the small k would normally be very flowery and was a very simple uncrossed f looking letter in her marriage record. We don't believe the double f letters represent f in this case as there were not translations for fnner or fmner in all of Somerset in freereg.org.uk.

She wrote her will on Nov. 2, 1626 in Curry Rivel, Co. Somerset as a widow. She named all the children and the number of grandchildren she had by each child in her will which was probated in 1631. These included her son, William Coate and his 4 children (William, Cresset); her son, Thomas Coate and his 3 children (Mary, Joan and Elizabeth); her daughter Rachel German and her 3 children; to John Woodborne's 3 children, to Mary Woodborne, daughter of John Woodborne, to John the son of John Woodborne; to Joane Woodborne, the daughter of John Woodborne; to her son Henry Coate a chest in the hall and after his decease to his son Marmaduke Coate; and to her kinswoman, Alice Skinner. (Note: Alice Skinner is likely the Alse Skinner, widow who died in Dunster, Somerset, England and was buried there in St. George Parish on Aug 12, 1632. Many Skinner's lived in Dunster. She could also have had her surname misinterpreted and be the Alse Somer who died in 1638 in Othery, Somerset, England who was a widow.) She gave the rest of her goods after division of her debts to John Woodborne and Henry Coate. She named these last 2 her executors. She does not explain her relationship to John Woodborne, father of Mary, John and Joan Woodborne in her will. Her name was spelled Marie Coate in this document. (I believe they are great grand children via a marriage record dated 1655 to a Marmaduke Coate indicating Mary Woodborne was born before 1626 and was a gr. granddaughter by age.) The witnesses to this will were Roger Cole, William Sawble and William Sawellysis with his mark of an X. I'm assuming because she thinks so highly of John Woodborne, that his wife was a deceased daughter of her and Marmaduke Coate's. Her kinswoman, Alice Skinner was likely near her age with Skinner being her married name. The will was proved in Taunton in 1631.

The fact that it and any of these Somerset wills that I have summarized in my Somerset Coate records survived the bombings of World War II says that they had 2nd copies hand transcribed at an alternate location near the time they were created sent to Taunton, Somerset, England. All wills of the wealthy were duplicated and sent to Taunton. Those did not get bombed in World War II.

Her most likely parent is a Rich/Richard Somner/Sommer from Othery which is 3.6 miles from Weston Zoyland where Marmaduke and Mary married. It is now a part of Bridegwater where Marmaduke Coate was from before he and Mary settled in adjacent Curry Rivell. Here is how the Somner's are grouped in Othery, Bridgewater and Weston Zoyland

Mary Smner/Somner b. bef 1560 m. Marmaduke Coate in 1575 in Weston Zoyland.

Francis Smner/Somner b. bef 1560 m. Joan Bragge in 1575 in Weston Zoyland

Margaret Smner/Somer b. bef 1562 m. William (?h)inge in 1577 in Weston Zoyland

Alice Somner buried Apr 4, 1551, d. of Richard Somner in Baltonsborough, Bridgewater, England which is 13 miles from Othery

William Somner, baptized Mar 24, 1551/2 in Baltonsborough, son of Richard

Joan d. of Richard, b. 1560 in Othery (Joan Somner and John Howell married in 1598)

Isabell d. of Richard, b. 1561 in Othery

Thomas s. of Rich Sommer baptized 1563

Richard s. of Richard Sommer baptized 1574

Richard d. 1590

John Somer, b. 1560 in Bridgwater, Somerset, England. Father unlisted.

Jone, b. 1562, in Bridgwater. Father unlisted.

Robert b 1564 in Bridgwater. Father unlisted.

Mary Somer b. 1562 in Maperton, Somerset which is 26 miles from Weston Zoyland where Mary married Marmaduke Coate if this is the same Mary.

Richard Cox and (H)abell Somner m. in 1562

Robert s. of John Sommer baptized 1570

William Sommer and Joan Cox m. in 1569

Thomas s. of William baptized 1571

Robert s. of William Sommer baptized 1576

Mary Somer b. 1574 to unknown parents in Bridgewater (She is not our Mary)

William Cox and Elizabeth Sommer in 1572

Mary Sommer and Bartabyn Willaway m. in 1577 in Bridgewater

Walter Somer and Elizabeth Harris in 1587

Joan d. of Walter baptized 1592

Richard s. of Walter Sommer baptized 1597

John s. of Walter baptized 1602

Robert s. of M.W. Sommer baptized 1589

Joan d. of Ales Sommer baptized 1590 (Joan Somner and Joseph Adezfee in 1604)

Ales Somner and Thomas Fane m. on 21 Apr 1594John s. of John Somner baptized 1595

Sabilla d. of Jo. Sommer baptized and buried 1599

Margaret Somner and John Cox were married in 1596

Mary Sommer d. 1603 in Bridgewater

Joan, d. of Edward Sommer/Somner baptized 1605

William Sommer and Joan Cox m. in 1612

William s. of Edward baptized 1613, Jul 13

Thomas s. of Edward baptized 1613, Jul 13Thomas s. of John baptized 1616 (Thomas is probably the grandson of Walter or John above)

Not all of their births are accounted for in the church records of Othery including Mary Somner's b. bef 1563.

Notes:

It is complete theory that Richard is the father of Marie/Mary. Her christening record and parentage remain to be found. Richard is simply the closest person living to Weston Zoyland where she married Marmaduke of an appropriate age to be her father. Quite a few of his children are listed in the Somerset records, but I have yet to find where a peer Francis and Margaret Somners christening records are either.

Richard is probably the Richard Sommer/Summer who received his B.A. in Mar of 1545/6 and his M.A. in Nov. of 1555 from Oxford University. Here are his notations under the surname Summer. He is listed under both spellings as an alumni of Oxford. Demy: Magdelen Coll(ege). He enrolled in 1541, age 15. He was a fellow from 1546-1548.